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War historian to give Bone lecture tonight

By Michele Steinbacher
msteinbacher@pantagraph.com

NORMAL — A World War II historian says America’s leadership today could learn from U.S. government policy in World War II, but the Bush administration doesn’t appear interested.

“You can learn from something only if you want to,” said Gerhard Weinberg.

The Illinois State University Bone distinguished lecturer for 2007, Weinberg will visit Normal tonight to discuss post-1945 U.S. policy. The event is free and open to the public.

Weinberg speaks on World War II and Germany from experience.

Born in Germany, he arrived in London as an 11-year-old in 1938, moving a few years later to the United States. Later, he served in the U.S. Army during the postwar occupation of Japan.

In the 1950s, he discovered “Zweites Buch,” Adolf Hitler’s unpublished sequel to “Mein Kampf,” and then translated that work into English.

Weinberg said a number of comparisons show the current administration acts exactly in the opposite way from World War II-era policymakers:

-- Then, the U.S. government raised taxes on the wealthier citizens. In the Iraq War era, the same socioeconomic group has seen its taxes lowered.

-- A World War II-era congressional committee watched to prevent undue profiteering by wartime contractors. “Now there is no careful congressional oversight,” said Weinberg, alluding to scandals involving Halliburton Co. and other private companies.

-- Military duty in World War II was a responsibility shared across the board through a draft. Now the U.S. has a volunteer military and guards from private contractors, such as the controversial Blackwater Security Consulting.

-- Planning for what to do with Germany and Japan after victory was key to World War II-era U.S. policy, said the historian. “When we went to Iraq, we assumed it would be very quick, though it’s proven otherwise — and there appears to be no planning for what to do afterwards,” he said.

Weinberg said that tonight, he’ll discuss concerns immediately facing America following World War II.

“Not specific moves of the military, but some of the debates and discussions that resulted from our policy — how our thinking, hopes and beliefs came to be in post-war years,” he said.

That includes the use of atomic bombs on Japan and the ensuing Cold War.

Weinberg retired as a professor at University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. Among his honors is serving as a scholar in residence at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C.

WWII speaker

Who: Gerhard Weinberg, World War II historian

What: “World War II in Postwar Politics,” Bone Distinguished Lecture

When: 7:30 p.m. today

Where: Room 138, Schroeder Hall, Illinois State University, Normal

Cost: Free, open to the public

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Reader comments on this story - 4 total

Note: All views and opinions expressed in reader comments are solely those of the individual submitting the comment, and not those of the Pantagraph or its staff.

War is hell wrote on Oct 11, 2007 11:00 PM:

" not Monday night football. Weinberg obviously is a L-I-B-E-R-A-L. Comparing the war in Iraq to WWII is an apples-to-oranges comparison. But since Weinberg wants to play that game, I'll point out we learned at least one thing from WWII. The death toll for the allied troops on D-Day (just ONE single day) was over 9,000. We've been in Iraq for more than 1,640 days and the death toll is just over 3,800. "

Risk wrote on Oct 11, 2007 2:41 PM:

" Oh, sure, the US Military is just full or hard chargin fireball general officers being held back by Congress. Wake up. The Generals of WWII were bold, resourceful and audacious. Todays Generals are former band jocks with graduate degrees that have kissed and stroked their way up the chain with their cautiously optomistic PC vocabulary. True FIGHTING generals of yore couldnt even get a comission in todays armed farces. "

To Helmet Liner wrote on Oct 11, 2007 9:52 AM:

" If today's military only had generals who weren't constrained by a limp-wristed Congress, they'd have the job done by now. "

Helmet Liner wrote on Oct 11, 2007 9:33 AM:

" If todays military only had generals like in WWII we woulndt be stuck in the sand building infastucture for a people that hate us. "

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